"Your Majesty, the Royal Mother wants to see you in the Palace garden", Queen Marah's personal maid informs her.
"Alright lets go" Queen Marah said and left with her maids and guards.
On getting to the garden she saw the Royal mother sitting on a chair while sipping her favorite tea.
"Your Majesty you sent for me" Queen Marah said and moved closer to her.
"Yes, your Majesty I did, take a seat"
"What is it Mother", Queen Marah asked
"A leopard can run for days without stopping because of anything but it would never run its race to a lion's den",
"What is it mother, I can't understand" Queen Marsh asked confused
"Your leopard has started running beyond its threshold, Marah. I know that you were the one behind Astra falling into the ocean fourteen years ago", The Royal mother said
"Mom", Queen Marah said with her eyes opened wide in shock
"Are you shocked, don't be Marah you didn't even try to cover your tracks well. It became a mystery when all the people that followed the both of you to the ocean that day began dying one by one after Astra disappeared so it was only a matter of time before the truth would be revealed",the Royal mother said again.
"I know that you don't want Astra"s daughter to come into this palace Marah but you better keep your thougts to yourself because I know some evil thoughts have probably started cooking in your head but If there is even as simple as a scratch on my granddaughter's body or if you harm even a strand of her hair. I will destroy you Marah. I couldn't protect her mother but I will stop at nothing to protect her. So if you or your spoilt daughters do anything foolish, I will show you why I am Queen Dowager", the Royal mother threatened and called her maids.
"Escort me back to my chambers Sona, the cold is becoming too much for my old body. I guess age is finally showing its colors on me", the Royal mother said and chuckled.
"Let's go your Majesty", Sona said and escorted her.
After she left the Queen gritted her teeth and squeezed her hand so tight that her knuckles turned white with fear and anger, she sat in the garden for a while longer before going back to her quarters.
On getting back to her room the Royal Mother told her personal help
"Sona" she called
"Yes your highness" Sona replied
"Order some maids to clean up and refurbish Late Lady Astra's quarters. I want my granddaughter to stay in her mother's quarters when she comes back here.
"I still feel extremely guilty up until today that I couldn't protect Astra like I promised her parents and my husband, the late King. I probably will never be able to forgive myself for it but I will give Astra's daughter everything that is rightfully hers before I pass on to the behold, that's the least I can do for her as her grandmother", The Royal mother said wiping her tears.
"I hope my orders of keeping Astra's things the way they were after she passed away weren't defied"
"Yes Royal mother, Her highness things are still as she left them", Sona replied
"Good, ask the palace maids to clean up the quarters then, staying in her mother's last home among her things will most definitely let the Princess feel closer to her mother"
"Definitely your Highness, I will supervise the cleaning myself, please excuse me" Sona said.
"Excused" The Royal mother replied and Sona left.
After she left the Royal Mother went back to looking out at the garden, she was lost in thoughts thinking about all the mistakes of the past, she looked into the sky and said
"I am sorry Astra, I loved you like my daughter but I couldn't protect you like a mother. I thought getting you married to my son would make happy but I guess it was all my selfish thinking because I didn't want you to leave the palace walls you had grown up in. I am so sorry Astra my decision led you to such an early death please forgive me, I wish I had found your daughter sooner but even though i found her quite late I promise to take care of your daughter till my last breath, please forgive me for everything Astra", she said and started sobbing.
After a while she heard a knock on the door,
"what is it" She asked
"Royal Queen Mother, Your Highness His Majesty the King demands audience with you"
She cleaned her face and said "Let him in", a few seconds later the King came in and locked the door behind him.
"Royal mother" The king says
"What is it your Majesty", the Royal Mother asks not bothering to turn to face him
"Mom do you really have to bring that girl back, all of us are happy like this right my wife and daughters are not okay with that girl coming into this house but you have threatened to kill yourself if I don't bring her into this Palace"
"Please revoke your Royal command mother", the King pleaded and Royal mother finally turns to look at him.
"You should be thankful for that crown on your head Sebastian because if not because of it I would have slapped you right now the way a mother slaps a son like you"
"How dare you come in here and beg me to revoke my Royal command of bringing the Princess into the Palace. Don't you have a conscience or have you fed it to the devil, Astra was madly in love with you since childhood and you knew it but you broke her heart and went ahead to marry someone else after taking her virginity. Despite that Sebastian, despite that she forgave you and still agreed to be your second wife, she didn't do it because no one would marry her since she is no more a virgin because the Astra I raised would have rather died alone than marry a man who did that to her if it has had been someone else in your place but because it was you the man she had loved for sixteen years she still agreed Sebastian and she married you"
"And instead of you to repent for the injustice you did to her by taking care of her your whole life you left her to the care of your evil wife. You knew about everything Marah did to her within those two years Sebastian but you turned a blind eye to it until that evil woman sent her to her death and I am certain you know that Queen Marah was the one that pushed Astra into the ocean that day and killed her but just like every time you turned a blind eye again. Astra and her parents did so much for our family but that was how we could repay them"
"And its also seems to me like you have forgotten Astra once took a sword for you on the battlefield and she almost died then, you would have died that day if not for her, and it is also because of Astra that you are on this throne today, don't forget all she did to make the Kingdom accept you as their king. Despite everything that woman did for you the only way you found worthy of repaying her is by killing her and as if that wasn't enough now you don't even want her daughter to come into the palace"
"That girl is also your daughter Sebastian and she wouldn't have even been concieved if you hadn't force yourself on Astra when you were drunk. After committing so many vile crimes for which killing you a thousand times wouldn't even be enough to forgive you want to add another one to the list. You have put my upbringing to shame Sebastian and I am so ashamed to call you my son. Now if you don't want me to lay a curse on you that will forever follow you and your generations to come, get out of my chambers now, GET OUT SEBASTIAN, OUT." The Royal mother shouted and the king left, immediately he left she slumped on the bed crying.
"Can you see this Your Majesty our son turned out to be such a failure, he hasn't performed any of his duties properly neither as a son nor as a father, or a husband, I am so old now what do I do", she lamented and wept.